“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Monday, 2 May 2016

Review of 'Junk' by M83

Most of us
will agree that junk food is a guilty pleasure, even if it is overly sugary,
cheesy and seldom made from fresh ingredients.

Talking of junk food, the artwork kind of reminds me of those creepy McDonald's creatures

All of this
can also be said of the sounds being played with on Junk. Inspired by nostalgic TV shows from the 80s and 90s,
French-American synthpop group M83 throw together as many cheap (but
shamefacedly enjoyable) flavours that they can muster including
Seinfield-slap-bass, Starpoint-squelchy-synths and every gaudy breed of solo
that you can think of – sax solos, guitar solos, keytar solos, even a harmonica
solo on the last track.

It’s retro in
the same way Daft Punk’s Random Access
Memories and Todd Terje’s It’s Album
Time are. The difference is that this record deliberately borrows from the
corny end of the spectrum rather than the classy end.

This isn’t as
horrible as it sounds. With its goofy singing and sci-fi-Muppets album cover,
the band show a sense of humour and self-awareness that shows their corniness to be adorably deliberate rather than embarrassingly accidental. Perfectly-arranged power ballads such as
‘Solitude’ meanwhile show off the band's song-writing talent – the
tone may not be serious but the musicianship is.

Now that I think about it, the artwork actually kinda reminds me of this dude from Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared *chills*

Certainly,
there are times where the line between garbage and junk gets a little blurred. ‘For
the Kids’ is a convincing twinkling eighties slowjam, but without any absurdity
or glimmer of originality, so uncool that even your mum is unlikely to turn her nose at it.

Thankfully this is really the only dud in the mix, the remainder of tunes using their retro ideas playfully and creatively.
Take ‘Do it, Try it’ for example – the mix of nineties-esque–rave-piano-rolls, slap
bass and loopy vocals makes for something entirely novel. Yes, piano rolls and
slap bass are both terribly hackneyed, but fused together it’s an exciting
cocktail.

In many ways
this album may just be a reflection of this very blog, Music Related Junk.
It knows it’s trashy and exploits this for entertainment value. (Honestly, you
think anyone reads my reviews because they’re smart and insightful? No, I get
hits because I add gaudy gifs and lay down corny jokes and sometimes WRITE IN ALL CAPS
LOCK LIKE A CHILD.)

Similarly,
M83 know that they’re cheap thrills, but they embrace it to the point where
it’s so charmingly innocent that you’d be a prude not to enjoy it. It’s junk of
the highest order – the type people make art sculptures out of.